are not calling it a truce, but they're not calling it a cease-fire either. it appearsthatisraelandhamas are on the verge of agreeing to a time-out. standing down on attacks that have bloodied the region for the last six days. the latest technology toll, 118 people, 114 of them palestinian have been killed as rockets and missiles crisscrossed the skies over hamas-controlled gaza. amidst the shelling, the sound everyone wanted to hear, egypt's president mohamed morsi suggesting progress in attempts at brokering a cease-fire. and backing hamas, released a statement saying, the travesty of the israel aggression on gaza will end in a few hours. we're going to get to the details of all of this and the apparent pause in fighting in just a moment. but first, we want to look at the united states role and all the various players that are involved in this. and in about an hour, secretary of state hillary clinton is to meet with israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu. tomorrow, she is scheduled to meet with the palestinian authority. mahmoud abbas. he's in the west bank. that's on the opposite si

for unprecedented power. so far, so good, that cease firebetweenisraelandhamas is holding for now. but there are real fears even the slightest flare-up could kick off chaos. >>> how was i to know he would do a dumb thing like that? >> and tv's original bad boy. hollywood reacting this morning to the death of "dallas" star larry hagman. >>> good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. it is 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. on the west, and here's where we start this morning. larry hagman's family says he was surrounded by family at the end. the 81-year-old actor died of complications from cancer. he's best known for his iconic portrayal of j.r. ewing in the show "dallas." it's a role that he always called his favorite. peter fonda said goodbye to his friend on twitter, saying hagman brought so much fun to everyone's life. cnn entertainment corresponde m correspondent careen winter joins us. i understand that you are at larry hagman's star on the hollywood walk of fame. are people showing up to pay their respects? >> not yet, but you can bet that will change as the morning continues. w

strip andthroughoutisrael. alot of talk about cooling down, about a potential cease-fire. we have seen things heat up. it is very hot, indeed. a short time ago, several hours ago, many explosions just in the area behind me. i'll show you the videotape. no audio, so i'll talk over it. we didn't realize what was about to occur and we weren't recording sound during it. but a very loud blast as you see right there, basically all of us ducked down in the office. we thought that was the end of it. and our cameraman panned over. and a series of more explosions. it turns out this was a number of government buildings that is what is said to have been hit. it's not clear if those are secondary explosions or if those are multiple rockets going into the building. then started pointing out, it was not over. at that point you can hear the sound. let's listen in now. whoa. that's just the sound in the tail end of it. we didn't think we were on the air during all this time, which is why we weren't recording sound. you heard how loud the blasts were at the end. consider how loud the blasts were ev

's quiet. let me ask you, though, about the leaflets that are dropped from the skyfromisraeltobasically warn civilians in gaza as a heads-up. look, we are sending a missile you're way, here's where you need to go to stay safe. >> reporter: well, we have seen two different kinds of leaflets. one is sort of a generic stay away from anything affiliated or connected with hamas. and it's a message to the israeli defense forces. and it also says we are trying to only go after hamas and not the people of gaza. what we saw yesterday, however, were leaflets being dropped on the northern part of the gaza strip with very specific instructions for people to leave those areas, how to get out of those areas and take cover in areas of gaza city which are safer. so those leaflets really did spark something of a panic exodus by people from the northern areas of the gaza strip. they flocked on donkey carts, pickup trucks, whatever kind of transportation they could find to this area. and they were put up in schools, but the schools weren't ready. there was no preparations for them to come. so they have le

to you. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east. >>> we are going to start this hour with breaking news in the gaza/israel conflict. new reports of new violence this morning. it happened in gaza near the israeli border. according to hamas security sources about 700 people were participating in the anti-israel protests that approached the border. israeli forces allegedly fired at the protests killing at least one palestinian man and wounding three others. we are going to keep our eye on this for you this morning. we'll bring you the latest as it develops. now, to the other news today, it is black friday in america. somehow, this shopping frenzy became a holiday tradition. and this year, hard-core bargain hunters face a new challenge with more stores moving their door buster hours up to thanksgiving night, creating, yes, gray thursday. people camped out in the line for hours hoping to score some sweet deals. we have two live reports from some very brave reporters, cnn's george howell is at a best buy in atlanta, stacy cohen is at a mall in arlington, virginia. george, you surviving? what's it been like ther

waving because of an impending decision at the united nations. i'llaskisrael's ambassadorto the united states why he thinks -- why his country thinks the u.n.'s possibly interaction is a bad idea. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> we begin with today's hard words in the negotiations to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. that steep across the board spending cut and tax increase scheduled to hit in just 33 days. in a scathing assessment today, the speaker of the house john boehner says there's been no substantive progress on a deal. need to realize there can be no deal without tax rates going up for top earners. let's go live to our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. she's got more on the latest developments. tough talk from both sides, jessica. >> reporter: tough talk and some bright lines, wolf. on the same day that treasury secretary tim geithner went to capitol hill to meet with both democrats and republicans to talk about these negotiations, there is tense body language and tough words on both sides of pennsylvania avenue. they're starting to sound du

a cease-fire dealbetweenisraelandhamas, following 8 days of cross-border fightinginisraelandgaza and now the white house has to deal with that egyptian leader, who is expanding his presidential power. and, causing, unrest, once again and molly henneberg live in washington with the news. no coincidence, i'm guessing on his timing of the power grab? >> reporter: that's right, harris, middle east analysts say no, he was riding high on the world stage after helping to negotiate that cease-fire, between israel and hamas and gaza and decided to make his move and consolidate more of his power in egypt. here's more on that. >> now, washington has to take a choice, are we going to put more pressure on morsi, but if we do so he may not work with us on stabilizing the gaza piece, it will be difficult for this administration to deal with. >> reporter: the move, quote, raises concerns for many egyptians and the international community. harris? >> harris: what about the white house? any idea what they will do next regarding egypt. >> reporter: so far the obama administration is not calling out

. >> a big day in the middle east. todaybothisraelandgaza meet to further the cease-fire between the two embattled nations. we're going to have a live report coming up for you. >> gray thursday, black friday, and now cyber monday. but just how good are the deals today, compared to what was put out this past holiday weekend? we're going to break it all down for you. >> did you do any shopping? >> absolutely not. there's too much football. >> don't you love it? >> good morning. welcome to "early start," i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. 5:00 a.m. in the east. so let's get started. they are back. our lame duck congress returning to capitol hill today. the senate in session this afternoon. the house back tomorrow. and with 35 days left, as john just reminded us, before we plunge down the fiscal cliff, two prominent republican senators, lindsey graham and saxby chambliss are signaling they are willing to give a break the no tax pledge. that is a hopeful sign, folks, because a new cnn/orc poll shows more than two thirds of americans believe a trip over that cliff would create major

betweenisraelandhamas? they're happening in egypt today. >> and $59 billion! retail records broken as americans crowded stores for some competitive shopping over the weekend. and now cyber monday is here. will shoppers be in even more of a spending mood? >> you want to talk about money? a new powerball jackpot. a new record in the cash payout. it's unreal. >> a packed two hours ahead for you this morning. new jersey congressman bill pascrell will be joining us, grover norquist, jamie rubin, dr. hanan ashrawi, will be our guest, peter billingsley from a christmas story, and grinle college hoops star jack taylor. remember him? big game he had the other day. and the one and only tony bennett, monday, november 26th. welcome, everybody, "starting point" this morning. is that a hint of compromise in the air on capitol hill? 35 days left till we reach the fiscal cliff. and a couple of key republicans are now suggesting that they're willing to forego their no tax pledge to try to get a budget deal done and avoid massive tax hikes, and spending cuts that will come in the new year. brand-new

radioactive element called polonium. theybelieveisraelisbehind any poisoning of arafat. the spokesman for benjamin netanyahu tells our own wolf blitzer that they had nothing to do with arafat's death. he died in 2004 after having a brain hemorrge and slip sboog a coma. and the justice department started talks on the fast and furious lawsuit. republicans want to force attorney general eric holder to turn over certain documents tied to the gun trafficking operation. the obama administration has withheld these documents under executive privilege. holder tells cnn "i think there's a deal that can be struck." and we will bring you more on this very important story in the next hour of "the situation room." and the u.s. navy wants to replace the aging fleet of marine one helicopters. reuter reports the navy plans to buy 25 new helicopters used to transport the president. that's according to a draft request for the proposal. the first of the new helicopters would be ready in 2020. you might recall in 2009 the navy failed at its attempt to buy new marine one helicopters when a program run by l

, on the constitution and the attack on the judges right after he brokered the dealbetweenisraelandhamas. so he was already rending services in the international community and then asking for a license at home. it's really basically a page from the book of hosni mubarak. i think in washington, there is great uncertainty, what to do with the islamists in power. this is not just from this crisis of november 2b 22nd, this crisis of the last week behind us. this has been the case since the fall of the dictatorship of hosni mubarak, what to do with the islamists in egypt, what to do with the islamists in tunisia and what to do with the rise of the islamists in the region as a whole. >> over the weekend, senator john mccain said, our dollars will be directly related to the progress towards democracy. if you add up all the economic and military assistance the u.s. gives egypt every year, it's about $1.5 billion. should that be used as leverage to try to get egypt back on this democracy road? >> well, i usually have great deference to the opinions of senator mccain. i see things on national security th

as egypt's president expands his power on the heels of helping to broker a ceasefirebetweenisraelandhamas. >>> new egyptian leader, same old story for the u.s. relationship? good morning from washington. it's monday, november 26, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. welcome back from the long break. let's get right to my first reads of the morning. congressional leaders return to washington this week and with just 36 days left to avert the so-called fiscal cliff becoming more apparent that senate republicans want a deal and they would like one pretty quick. but while there may be a bi-p t bipartisan consensus to raise taxes on the wealthy, the sides are still far apart on where the revenue will come from. staff level negotiations are a little bit more than stalled. not fully stalled but they didn't go so great last week and it's unclear where speaker boehner will get the votes for a deal that would raise tax rates. which is why he's pushing against that idea. two senate republicans up for re-election in 2014 have bucked norquist saying they are willing to let taxe

there are ceasefire talks going on in cairo dealing with hamasandisrael. what'sthe latest on that? >> reporter: that's right. of course, the ceasefire between the palestinians and israelis was declared last wednesday. the fighting stopped but some of the details is yet to be hammered out. and that's what's happening in cairo today, between the israelis and the palestinians with egypt playing the role of mediator. these two sides have to work out a lot of very difficult topics. among them, the economic blockade of gaza, travel in the crossings, and then the alleged smuggling of illegal weapons into gaza from egyptian territory. a lot of tangled topics to tackle. history shows these are not easy issues to solve, but they're going to have a go at it with egypt playing the role of mediator, john. >> thanks, reza sayah in cairo this morning. great work today. thanks. >>> we're also following a remarkable story involving the late palestinian leader, yassir arafat. beginning tomorrow, arafat's body will be exhumed so investigators can figure out once and for all whether the head of the plo had been p

responsibility. >> the truce is holding between hamasandisraelaftereight days of fighting. palestinian students were now feeling free enough to walk back to school. and with israeli troops retreated from the border, hamas officials have announced the restriction on palestinian fishermen has been loosened as part of the cease-fire deal. fishermen are now permitted to head out six miles offshore rather than just three. >>> in syria, rebels claim they have overrun a key base west of aleppo and purged the assad regime from a whole swath of land near the iraqi border, but the killing continues. according to a major opposition group, 32 fepeople have been killed across syria today. >>> here in the states, the focus is retail shopping. black friday may be history, but the hunt for bargains is far from over. that's because we've still got cyber monday ahead of us. it looks like it could be the busiest ever. trish is the host of "street smart" on bloomberg tv. good to see you. >> good to see you, fredricka. >> i know we don't know exactly how well the retailers did on black friday, especially s

believe that arafat was poisonedbyisraelwhenhe died in 2004. now, an international team of scientists will analyze tissue samples to see if they contain any traces of a radioactive substance. the actual cause of arafat's death was never determined. >>> the egyptian people taking to the streets to mourn the death of a 16-year-old activist. and to voice their opposition to president mohamed morsi and the muslim brotherhood. this ireport showing protesters as they carried the teenager's casket through tahrir square to a cemetery. moresy's edict that the supreme court cannot overturn decisions he's made since coming into office in june or over the next six months is meeting a lot of resistance. one opponent saying it can only lead to a dictatorship. morsi insists, however, that he is trying to protect egypt's fragile arab spring revolution, not accumulate unchecked power, and that it is just temporary. >> if you're traveling through the northeast today, you might be dealing with some snow. alexandra steele is in for rob marciano. a little bit chillier? >> yeah, we've got the cold air in p